Team Time
by KreativeKaite
Summary: How does the team deal with spending more time together? What is Kensi upset about? Can her husband help? And what is Eric going to pick for a team outing? Established Kensi/Callen.
1. Singing

Disclaimer- As much as I love these characters, the closest I'm going to get to owning them is on my Christmas list. Let's hope that Santa comes through!

Established Kensi/Callen

"That was not funny!" Marty Deeks announced as he flopped down on to the chair next to Sam.

"That depends on how you look at it, you got away from the mob in one piece didn't you, and I got a kick out of watching both the girl's reactions and yours!" Said Kensi Blye, taking the seat opposite Deeks. Once again it was decided that the team needed to meet out of the office, only this time Hetty had made the night mandatory and permanent. This meant, that every Friday night, instead of going home to be with loved ones or going out with friends, the team all met at one place, and each week a different member of the Los Angeles NCIS team would pick the venue. This week had been Kensi's choice.

"Well thanks for your help, now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back and search for my dignity."

"What'd she do this time? Pinch you butt? Threaten to tell your wife? Or you mum?"Said an amused Sam, trading a glance with Callen over the table, they both knew this would be good.

"No. You remember that group of girls by the door? Well they wanted my name, said something about facebooking me, Kensi comes along saying how my herpes awareness profile is much more informative! I mean sure I'm away from the pack, but what's that cost?" He waits until Sam and Callen have restrained their laughter enough to comment.

"Well look at it this way, you won't ever have to worry about getting a date in LA, now no girl will give you a second look." At the thought Callen doubled over laughing again.

"G's right you know, some girls practically memorise those list before going out." Sam chuckled again at Kensi's handy work.

"I leave you all alone for one minute and chaos ensues." Hetty Lang chose that moment to reappear, once again making the team wonder if she had planted any bugs.

"I was only trying to help Deeks out, if he didn't want my help all he has to do is say so." Kensi replied defensively. "Right Callen, I do believe that it's your turn to wow us with your skills!"

"Watch, listen and prepare to be amazed." Said Callen as he walks onto the stage.

"Cute, do you think he got that from the time he dressed as the magician?" Sam said as he picked up one of the beers that Hetty had bought.

"Well that was different." Kensi exclaims as Callen returns to his seat next to her, grabbing her beer out of her hand as he goes.

"Truly a work of art Mr. Callen." Hetty praises before getting up to take her spot on stage.

"I thought the King was dead?" Deeks poor attempt at humour earns him a glare from Kensi, who grabs her bottle back off Callen, before taking a swig.

"Really that's the best you could come up-"

"Sorry were late, Nate took us to the wrong bar." Eric interrupted, not realising that he was cutting off Kensi. "Has Hetty noticed were not here, she sounded pretty scary in that memo, you know the one advising us to sell our organs to pay for rent when she fires us if we don't turn up."

"Well she hasn't fired you for your clothing, so I'd say showing up a little late is the least of your worries." Said Kensi, giving Eric's latest ensemble a once over.

"So who's winning so far?"Nate asks taking a spare chair and pushing in between Deeks and Sam.

"Wait a minute, who's voting on us; please tell me it's not the herpes girls." Deeks exclaimed with a groan.

"Technically you're the one with the herpes, and no it's Tom the bartender." Says Kensi ignoring the confused and slightly entertained looks from Nate and Eric.

"Why is every bartender named Tom?" Callen whispered to Sam.

"First of all I don't have herpes, second how is it you know the bartender by name? Do you come hear often, if I slip a bit of money in his direction, will he tell me all the things only your trusted bartender would know?" Deeks questions, ignoring Callen and Sam.

"He wouldn't be a trusted bartender if he told now would he?" Standing up Kensi walks up to the stage, preparing herself both mentally and physically, she hadn't had nearly enough alcohol to forget this in the morning, or give her the courage now, singing had never been her strong point.

"You know I still think that was rigged." Deeks walked out of the bar still complaining. "I mean sure it was a great performance, but really, how could you top my Beatles number!"

"Well Deeks, seeing as how you forgot the lyrics halfway through and improvised, I think that may have lost you some points." Callen thoughtfully points out, steering Kensi towards the car, who though wasn't completely drunk, was slightly tipsy.

"Yeah, that many have cost Deeks the points, but how could I have lost?" Sam almost as baffled as Deeks says "I remembered all the words, and sung it perfectly, even better the Cher." Kensi giggled, having picked the songs for the entire team as part of the deal in picking the venue.

"I will say it once and once only gentlemen, just like the Prince of Monaco said to me many years ago 'few people have the talent, even fewer can use it correctly.'" Looking up Hetty was unsurprised to see the looks of shock at the mention of her colourful past. "I expect to see you all bright eyed tomorrow, we have that sensitivity lecture, and it seems that some of you" looking directly at Kensi "need these more than others." With that she turned around and headed for her Jag.

Not long after Nate and Eric said their goodbyes, both of whom had recently gone on an eco drive, carpooling and saving energy any way they saw fit. Sam gave the pair a smile before getting into his car to drive home.

"I don't think that was fair, saying I'm not sensitive, I am sensitive, it's just other people that are unsensitive" Laughing at her misuse of words Callen helps her into the car, making sure she has her purse and seatbelt on before getting into the driver seat. Halfway home he realises that she has fallen asleep, smiling at the look of calm on her face only present when she is sleeping, he turns into their driveway. Thinking of all the changes she had made to his life.

The Callen that had once crashed on the office or boathouse couch was gone; he was no longer sleeping on friends and co-workers couches or in their spare rooms. This new Callen had a room of his own, a house in fact, somewhere to call home, with someone to come home too.

Gently he reached over and stroked his wife's cheek, watching her eyes flutter open. He may not be excited about tomorrows lecture, but he knows that with his team and with Kensi things will always be fine, as someone once said, if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right. And being with Kensi was definitely right.

Thank You and Goodnight!


	2. Sensitivity Training

Sensitivity training. One of the many mandatory parts of being an NCIS agent, the number of seemingly meaningless lectures and classes. Even after the team's night out they were expected to be wide awake and ready to be sensitised.

"Why can't we do this on Monday, or even tomorrow, or after lunch?" Kensi was struggling to get dressed, and drink her coffee at the same time. "Who could possibly expect us to be awake and ready to be shot at this early after then night we had?"

"Hetty. No one said that you had to drink that much. And we're not being shot at, it's much worse than that, and not your fault at all." Adding the last part as an afterthought, in the hopes of not spending the night on the couch. In the last two months Callen had learnt a lot about marriage, namely when to talk and when to shut up.

"Nice save," said Kensi as she washed out her coffee cup, placed it in the sink and grabbed her keys and jacket, "but I'm still driving."

"Of course." Callen muttered, shutting and locking their front door behind him, _this is going to be a long day._

"You will find in front of you a booklet detailing the outline of this course," The guest speaker instructed, "we are going to start this lesion with a demonstration, of both sensitive and unsensitive behaviour towards a colleague."

The NCIS LA department had all crammed themselves into the boathouse, sitting on tables, chairs couches, and in some cases on the floor or in fold-up beach chairs. As their HQ was top secret, the roomier building had been forfeited in favour of the smaller but not as compromising boathouse.

"I'm going to need two volunteers," she waited until they had all looked around nervously before pointing at two people, "what about you two?" Pointing twice, once at Kensi and again at Callen. 

"Good luck and play nice." Said Sam as Callen stood up from his spot to the left of him."Don't give him too hard a time Kensi." He chuckled as she got up from his other side.

"Ok, so for example, what's the worst thing that you have said to each other?" This speaker obviously had no idea what she was getting herself into. Kensi's face lights up like a Christmas tree, thinking of all the ways she could get her husband into trouble. Callen was already regretting some of the things he had said that morning.

"Well just this morning, he said that I take too long in the bathroom, complained that this training day was my fault, and criticized my driving!" She finished with a triumphant grin.

"Hang on, you were in the bathroom for five minutes, all I said was that that was quicker then normal. I also said that this lecture wasn't your fault and your can't criticize me for telling you to slow down and not bump into the cop car, I could have saved you from gaol." Callen's mind was already calculating how many nights he would spend on the couch.

Looking over at the crowd, the speaker realised that something was up, "You're the married couple aren't you?"

"Not for much longer if Callen has his turn." Called out Sam who was having a ball watching the drama unfold in front of him. "He may say something he could regret."

"Yeah and knowing Kensi, she wouldn't take him to court, just out back with a loaded gun." chimed in Deeks who like Sam was enjoying watching the drama.

"Well I suppose it would be unfair to drag you personal life into work, no matter what you say to each other in you off hours." With that Kensi and Callen were free to return to their seats.

Over two hours later, they had been split into groups of two, role playing how they talk to grieving widows, siblings, partners and children. Nell was explaining to a grieving Eric that it was very important that he give up his finger prints, so they could rule him out as a suspect. Sam was playing a dumb cheerleader who was withholding evidence, while Callen tried to explain it was part of a very important investigation. Deeks was playing the part of a shifty bank teller, while Kensi tried not to punch him and get the information at the same time, and lastly Hetty was persuading a terrified Nate that if he hands himself in all charges will be dropped.

While they were playing their various roles, the speaker would walk up to them with a pen and clipboard calculating how well they were doing.

"Mr. Callen, I understand that this is frustrating for you, but you have to understand, some people just don't respond the way you want them to." And with that she wrote down something on her paper and walked off.

Taking a deep breath, Callen mentally prepared himself for his next attempt.

"Ma'am, what you are holding is very important to our investigation, if you continue to withhold evidence you will be charged with that offence."

"Well like finally, someone's going to do something about the way like the hairdresser cut my hair like last week, it was like so horrible, I hope you like arrest her!" Said Sam in a fake high-pitched voice, pretending to flip his hair over his shoulder.

Much like her husband Kensi wasn't having any luck, only she wasn't dealing with stupidity, only fake charm and flirting.

"Well darling, I can't give you that information without a court order, but maybe we could reach an arrangement." Grinning in a way that made him look slimy compared to a slug, Deeks winked at her.

"You know what that's a great idea," reaching over the table, she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and hisses something in his ear making him turn pale.

"On second thought, we may be able to give you those documents after all." Says a still terrified Deeks, as the speaker walks past writing something down on her clipboard.

"Threatening is not part of this syllabus Ms. Blye." Callen and Sam laugh from their spot next to them, though quickly sobered up when Kensi shot them a glare that could have killed.

"Miss Lange, that's excellent, the textbook definition of the right way to treat a suspect."

"What do you wanna bet that Hetty wrote that textbook?" Said Deeks quietly to Sam, Callen and Kensi.

"I just use my experience Mr. Deeks, this is not my first sensitivity lecture, and I dare say it won't be my last." She replied looking directly at the four of them, all who visible recoiled at the thought of more lectures.

"This is why I like technology, I don't have to talk to it!" Nell had finally had enough of Eric and his fake blubbering.

"I think it's time that we move on." Said the speaker, much to the relief to everyone in the room.

"I can't believe she gave us homework!"

"Deeks shut up, or I just may follow through with my promise." Said a irritated Kensi, finishing off her coffee she had bought on the way back to OPS.

"Have you read all of these questions?" Sam had just sat down at his desk, looked at the booklet in horror, "'make sure to compliment each of your co-workers daily, and detail their response.' Seriously who comes up with this stuff?"

"Lab rats, and research analysts, trapped in government bunkers, for fear they will contaminate the world with their weirdness." Callen had just opened his booklet and was in the process of tricking off boxes in the lecture evaluation section.

"What do you say we all grab some take-out and pull our recourses, it'll be done in half the time and I'm hungry." Already standing with her jacket in one hand and her bag in the other, Kensi waited for the others.

"How 'bout that Chinese place around the corner form you? I'll grab Hetty, Nate, Nell and Eric, and meet you there." Sam went off in one direction while Kensi, Callen and Deeks walked towards their cars.

"Sorry guys, I'm going to have to bail, I have a hot date!" Kensi laughed "Even after last night?"

"Yes, even after last night, wish me luck, oh wait no don't worry I won't need it!" With that he was off, hopefully towards someone who didn't read herpes watch sites.

"If she doesn't punch him by the time that dates over , it'll be a miracle!" Said Kensi as she and Callen got into their car to join their team for dinner and homework, feeling very much like high school students.

Authors Note: Hi, for those of you a little confused, this is a series about moment of the teams lives, and how they interact with each other on daily. I'm not sure what to do next, dinner and their responses, or their next team night? Any ideas?


	3. Homework

"Who writes this crap?" An obviously annoyed man asks.

"I believe Mr. Callen, this 'crap' you refer to is what governments use to evaluate the effectiveness of their programs." Curt, sharp and to the point, someone familiar with government policies and strategies.

"You mean ineffectiveness?" Stated a voice full of boredom.

"No, Mr. Beal, I believed that this program was a great benefit, if only to keep the bureaucracy happy."

"Call me crazy, but what good is a bureaucracy if they set the standards for everyone else but don't follow them themselves?" This time it was a young woman, sounding both bored and annoyed.

"Well they could, just give me a couple minutes in OSP and I'll see what I can-"

"Mr. Beal I do believe that this is a conversation we have already had, in fact I remember it multiple times." Cutting off the bored man.

The sound of voices and laughter could be heard from a both in the local Chinese restaurant currently occupied by the NCIS LA team. As their waitress came over to place their order, the team were discussing some of the finer points of their government's policies.

"Nate, is this really safe? I mean sure we risk our lives everyday, but this is just plain torture!" Kensi was currently reading through the Dos and Don'ts section of her sensitivity booklet. "I mean look at this, page 35 paragraph 7, 'Never under any circumstances, offer a grieving widow a tissue or handkerchief, as if any health issues present after the acceptance of said tissue or handkerchief, the government and yourself is liable for the health and wellbeing of all persons that make contact with agents of the United States of America.'" Looking up to find amused and slightly worried faces.

"Wait a minute, does that mean that if I give you a cold, me and the government are responsible for you health and welfare? That would never work; you would kill me before you could clam." Eric was almost as confused as Kensi at this instruction.

Not even Hetty could clear it up for them, "That would only work if you would kill Mr. Callen first, and by doing so making Ms. Blye here a widow."

"Sorry Kensi, no way are you going to get those big government payoffs, Eric could never kill G, not in this lifetime at least."

"Great, thanks Sam, nice to know that your all more worried about Kensi's bank balance then my death, makes me feel real special." Kensi, who was sitting next to Callen smiled, then leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Don't worry, I never get sick, would have liked some of that money though, do you know what I could have bought with that, better yet, do you know how much the government would pay to keep me quite?"

Callen just rolled his eyes, "Yes, and no there is no wardrobe in the world that could fit that many shoes." Hitting her husband on the arm, she turned to talk to Hetty.

"Why exactly would the government be so worried about a widow getting sick?"

"I suppose the headlines, 'Government Kills Husband and Leave Wife Fighting for Life'." Looking up from the menu she had been reading she placed her order, then everyone else's, without a second thought.

"Hetty, how did you know what we wanted?" Eric said, who unlike the agents and Nate still asked when Hetty did something unexpected, or just plain scary.

"Mr Beal it requires a skill that many people just do not posses." And with that she left the computer genius with more questions than answers. "Now let us turn to page 22, and start the questionnaire."

"Will the torture ever end?" Eric near shouted. Three hours later and all they had done was eat dinner, expertly ordered for them by Hetty, covered the questionnaire, and the word search in the 'fun' activities section. They had relocated after the second hour, now the team, minus Deeks was spiralled out over Callen and Kensi's living room floor, couch and chairs.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you that you would get more done if you stop complaining?" Sam, who from his position on the couch had a clear view of Eric, who was stretched out on the floor on his stomach, glaring at his booklet.

"Yeah, she also said that if I eat all my greens I would be big and strong."

Kensi laughed, "What happened?" She was sitting in front of Callen, who was next to Sam on the couch.

"He obviously favoured a potato approach." Callen smirked as he played with Kensi's hair.

"Alright children, 10 pages to go then I suggest we call it a night." Hetty, who was beginning to feel more and more like a high school teacher, was sitting next to Sam on matching chair. Nate who was sitting next to quite Nell looking as hopeful as ever with the sight of freedom in his grasp.

"Five hours, who in their right mind would sit for five hours voluntarily reading that garbage?" Callen was picking up one of the bowls that had been filled with popcorn, now only the un-popped pieces remained.

"I though that we agreed, our government or any government for that matter wasn't in their right mind." Kensi was washing coffee cups and putting them in the drying rack, beside the sink. "Besides which, if you and Sam hadn't decided to have that argument about which was the most stupid question, we could have been done in four hours."

"That's still four hours of my life I will never get back, helping the government create more pointless ways of wasting our time. You know in the box that asked us to detail what aspects of this program could be improved, I wrote it can't be improved, so stop making us fill out pointless surveys!"

"Oh, yeah, and that has always worked so well for you in the past." Both of them knowing that these sections of a survey is primarily for making the participant feel like they are useful and valued, well that's what Nate had explained anyway.

Ignoring his wife, Callen emptied out the bowls and stacked the besides the sink, grabbing Kensi's hand as she reached for them, he pulled he into his arms, "Come on bedtime, these can wait until tomorrow."

As the two exhausted agents headed for bed, little did they know what would be waiting for them at OPS on Monday, though they probably wouldn't have slept so well if they did.


	4. It Can Only Get Better

Walking into OSP, Sam and Callen were arguing about a movie they had seen the night before. Kensi had wanted some girl time and before Callen knew it he was on his way to the movies with his partner, leaving his wife at home with a tub of chocolate ice-cream and a chick flick.

"It was just unrealistic, why would you jump out of a moving car when all you had to do was step on the breaks?" Callen was clearly unimpressed with the stunts of the action film.

"It's an action film G, it's not suppose to be realistic, and it's supposed to be entertaining." Sam, who had been struggling to explain this on the drive there, was near breaking point. Walking over to his desk and sitting down, before he began digging into his huge stack to paperwork.

"Where's Kensi?" Said Callen as he looked over to find her desk empty.

"I'm here." Walking over to her desk, Kensi stopped before dropping a stack of paper on her chair, walking over to Sam and Callen's desks and copying the action both received a stack of pink paper on their own piles.

"What's with the pink?"Sam looked down at the papers with both curiosity and disgust.

"Hetty wanted to save paper, and by using all the left over paper she could find, she's saving hundreds by not ordering more."

"But it's pink." Sam didn't understand, even after Kensi's explanation.

"No one will take us seriously, writing up reports on pink paper." Callen was having a hard time believing Kensi was serious, all the while trying to defend NCIS's street-creed.

"It won't be so bad, the follow up reports are going on blue." Said Kensi in an attempt to make the boys feel more manly.

"Are you sure we don't have any cases?" Asked Callen, hoping to get away from the sea of pink.

"Not unless you were in a hit and run on the way here." Said Kensi sitting at her desk while pulling out a pen.

Both agents looked at Kensi.

"For the last time, my driving is not that bad, Eric's on the other hand." And with that thought they got started on their paperwork.

"Ms Blye, do you have a minute?" Their tiny though intimidating boss asked, standing in the middle of the bullpen. "Mr Callen, you had better be there too."

Sam and Deeks looked on in curiosity, wondering what it was their co-workers had done this time.

"Unless you want to be the subject of my hit and run I suggest that you continue with your work." Deeks and Sam rush back to work, while Hetty lead the two agents to her desk.

"Hetty we only just got the paperwork, we couldn't be finished already." Callen was trying to figure out what he had done to land himself in this much trouble.

"It's not about your paperwork Mr. Callen, would you like a cup of tea, Ms. Blye, or perhaps something stronger?" Now Kensi was worried. "Hetty it's only 10.00am."

"That may be true, but curtain circumstances sometimes need a different, if unconventional approach." By now Kensi and Callen were practically jumping out of their skin with anticipation, knowing that it was bad, but just how bad they didn't know.

"Ms. Blye, do you have an alibi for last night? Around 7pm?" Asked Hetty as she poured the tea, pausing to add milk and sugar.

"I got home at 6, Callen and Sam left around 6.30 and I went out to get dinner around 7, there should be footage of me at the local pizza place. Why are you asking?"

"Well deary," passing Kensi a cup of tea into which she splashed a bit of light brown liquid"do you remember a man called Neil Tomas? Special Agent Tomas?"

The cup rattled in Kensi's hands. "Yeah, he was the lead investigator into my dad's death."Callen reached over to steady her hands.

"Well last night Agent Tomas was murdered, and this was left at the scene." Hetty pulled out a photo of an evidence bag, showing a note inside.

"'For all those men that were wrongly accused, or set free.' What does that mean?" Callen asked after reading the note.

"I don't know Mr. Callen, but I intend to find out. For now, take Ms. Blye home, she is strictly hands off, and she doesn't look up to driving." One look at Kensi proved Hetty's thought. Kensi was white as a sheet and shaking slightly, she hadn't taken her eyes off of the photo since Hetty had brought it out.

"Hey, Kenz?" Callen bent down in front of her placing his hands on her knees and looked into her eyes. "I'm gonna take you home, why don't I meet you in the car, I'm just going to grab our stuff and tell the guys what to do, okay?" It wasn't until Kensi nodded that Callen realised just how much this was affecting her, and just how scared he was seeing her like this.

Callen drove them home in silence, knowing that it was best just to let Kensi process it in her own time, not to push anything out of her. It wasn't until they were sitting on their couch that she finally showed singes that she could talk.

"He accused me." Callen was so shocked to hear he talking that he almost missed what was said.

"He accused me of killing him, my dad. I got home about an hour before they arrived. I was asleep; I had been out with my friends having fun while my father was murdered. I got home went to bed and hoped that dad wouldn't suspect I'd been out. Next thing I know is someone's banging on the door, asking for my mother." Callen put an arm around her.

"They hadn't even bothered to check his file before going out, they hadn't even bothered to check if he had a wife, let alone if she was still alive. They accused me of breaking in, they said that Richard Blye didn't have a daughter, they made me show them ID, and then didn't apologise, and they just said that dad was dead then didn't say how or why."

"Who was this, the cops?" Callen had never heard the whole story into her father's death, and hearing this little bit told him why. It was like his time in foster homes, something you acknowledged because it happened, but not something you dwell on. He knew from experience that people, or agencies that played by these rules, showing no compassion or sensitivity, they were the ones with the worse results, and the most lawsuits.

"Special Agent Tomas." She said as the tears finally came out, falling down her face and soaking her shirt. By the time Callen had pulled her into his arms she was sobbing openly, no caring what he thought, what anyone thought. "He was NCIS."


	5. What Makes An NCIS Agent?

Some people are special. They say with you throughout your life, and sometimes after it. Kensi would never forget her father, the way he laughed, talked and even the way he yelled. Though sometimes she believed the bad to outweigh the good, the memory of his death, of not knowing, was sometimes more powerful than any of the good memories she had.

Waking up the next morning, she tried to convince herself it had just been a dream. That her mind had just remembered this horrible man and decided that death was a better alternative for someone like him.

Neil Thomas had haunted her dreams for many years, sometimes he would reapire telling her that her father was dead over and over, other times he would be telling her of someone else's death, the one constant, the one thing the same was it was always in the cruel calculating manner of his. The way in which he would always suspect the family more than the enemies. The way in which he would always suspect her more than any other leads.

Callen looked at his wife, her words from last night still turning in his brain, "He was NCIS," over the years Callen had worked with many different agencies and many different agents, but one thing remained constant, the pain in which he inflected by telling the victims that their loved one wouldn't be coming home, that they would only ever see them again in a wooden box. He knew that it was not only the hardest thing to hear, but also to say.

Sighing as he picked up his phone and walked out of their bedroom as not to wake Kensi sighing again when he looked at the caller id, Hetty.

"Callen."

"Mr. Callen, how is Ms. Blye doing? Do you think it would be wise to leave her at home?"

"Hetty I don't know, I've never seen her like this before, she's upset, reliving all her nightmares and fears, I don't think that she would do anything if she's left alone, and I really don't think that taking her into the office is a good idea." Callen looked at the door to their bedroom from his spot on the couch, it was almost 8.30 and Kensi was still asleep.

"I suggest that you let her sleep, you Mr. Callen I expect at the office within the hour." She had hung up before Callen got the chance to ask how Hetty knew that Kensi was still asleep, some questions you just aren't suppose to ask.

"Callen, how's Kensi?" Sam greeted his partner at the door, both hoping to arrive in time to miss the writhe of Hetty.

"She's good, still sleeping, she had a tough night." Opening the door for Sam as they prepared mentally for the day ahead of them, investigating the death of one of their own always hurt, even when you couldn't stand the man, it was the principle of the matter, someone illing to give his life for his country was killed by someone who was soulless.

"She's tough, she'll be ok." Sam said slapping Callen on the back as they parted ways at the bullpen.

"I hope so." Callen muttered as he sat down and went over the Tomas case file, someone had put it in his in-tray. "This may be worse than we thought."

"Mr. Callen, Mr. Hanna, the director is on line and he would rather he wasn't kept waiting." At the sound of the little smurf's voice both agents jumped into action, running up to the control centre in a hurry in order to not piss off their boss's boss.

"Agents Hanna, and Callen, Deeks was just telling me about this letter left at the scene, I'm sure you agree it's an important piece of evidence, one that should be looked into in with the upmost care and determination." With that the director brought his hands over his neck in a cutting motion and the connection was terminated.

"Did he say anything else?" Callen was a little put off at the bluntness in which the director dealt with the death of one of their own; again, while he felt no connection to Tomas, he still felt that as a federal agent his death should mean more to his boss. Apparently not.

"The director and Mr. Tomas had a complicated relationship. The director accused him of improper tactics, both with his suspects and his witnesses." Hetty motion for Eric to pass out the files they had on Tomas.

"Yeah, Kenz told me of how she first met Tomas, and from that all I can say is the man needed to attend one of those sensitivity lectures. He accused Kenz of killing her dad." The room wasn't surprised. "What am I missing?" Callen wasn't in the loop, and he didn't like it.

"Yesterday after you and Kensi went home we had a look at Tomas's files. There were some pretty big names in their if you catch my drift, and I mean big as in... well why don't you have a look." Deeks walked up to the wall covering touch screens, after highlighting a few key points he stepped back and let Callen observe the information.

"Killers, hired killers, there are about fifteen different cases he was involved in, all involving a hit of some kind, not one of them was made to stick to the real killer, more or less Tomas has allowed the real killer to go free and pretended to fall for the frame up." Sam summarised for Callen.

"How do you know that they were frame up's?" Callen wasn't convinced that the case could be solved in such a neat package. "He could have been a really bad agent, and if it was true how come no one has noticed this before?"

"Every one of these cases, the judge and the prosecutor were later found to have mob ties or to have been payed-off, and the juries were given false evidence and left in a confused state about the defenders innocence. They were fixed trials, and on one realised until now." Deeks continued were Sam left off, leaving little to no doubt in Callen's mind that his team had done their research and was right.

"Do we know who they were working for?"

"A man that goes by the name, Tony Simpson, though he was killed in a car accident last year, so we're looking into his second-in-command, a man called Jackson Gear. We found an address and the search warrant should be here in minutes." Eric finished for the team, leaving Callen feeling a little obsolete.

"Mr Callen, bring him in as a suspect in the investigation to Special Agent Tomas's death, search his apartment and bring back his computer for Mr. Beal to look over." Hetty finished in her dismissing manner, prompting the agents to leave.

"Right now that you have all told me how to do my job, or have done it for me, there's only one thing left for me to do. I'm driving!" Callen called over his shoulder, and with that the team minus Kensi was off to track down their suspect, with Callen at the wheel.


	6. The End

For a man who is suspected for killing a federal agent, Jackson Gear was remarkably calm, just that morning he had been shopping for his granddaughter's birthday present, and before that he had been swimming at the local pool. This wasn't the kind of criminal behaviour you would suspect or expect for that matter.

After making a cup of tea, Gear decided to sit and read his paper. He was just finishing the cross-word when the door was kicked in.

"NCIS, Federal Agents. Stay still and put your hands were we can see them." Two men burst in through the front door and another from the rear. All armed, all pointing their weapons at him.

Needless to say he did as he was told.

"That's a new record." Sam Said as he walked out of interrogation.

"What finding him or getting him to talk?" Callen was a step behind him, for once.

"Well he didn't talk so much as sung and finding him was technically Eric and Nell." Pouring a cup of coffee, and turning of wave the pot at Callen, who shook his head. Instead opting for a donut from the box sitting on the counter. He had just taken a bite when Kensi and Deeks walked in, the former stopping to look at the TV screen showing the accused and the latter heading straight for the donuts and coffee.

"So you caught him." Callen wasn't sure if this was a statement, observation or question. He chose to answer it in a way that would work for all three, he just stood there with an expressionless face, Kensi took it like she normal did, annoyed.

Sensing a martial dispute about to start, both Deeks and Sam raced out of the boathouse and for once they didn't complain about sharing a car. Sam called out over his shoulder that he would see them later at whatever event it was that Eric had picked for their team Friday outing, and made it to the car with seconds to spare, beating Deeks to the driver's side, and saving himself from the drivers choice music rule, that Hetty had put in place after a partially nasty two hour road trip.

"I thought you were taking the day off?" Callen said offering Kensi a donut, no doubt an olive branch.

"I felt better, so I had Deeks pick me up on the way here." Taking a donut, and after a quick smell she put it back in the box with a look of disgust on her face. "When was the last time someone bought new donuts for this place?"

"This morning. Are you sure you're feeling ok?" Now Callen was worried, not only was she willingly riding in a car with Deeks, but she had turned down a perfectly good donut.

"I'm fine. Why did he do it?" She said pointing at the screen, which showed their calm and collected murderer.

"Apparently Special agent Tomas wasn't the loyal agent he pretended to be. Turns out our now retired mob man," pointing at the screen "was Simpson's second in command, Simpson the mob boss, payed Tomas to mess up the investigations by paying off the witnesses and losing evidence. Turns out that last year about a month before his death Simpson and Tomas covered up one more death, Samantha Gear, Jackson Gear's wife, he wanted revenge, and was willing to admit to the murder."

"I know that this is wrong to say, but I'm glad he's dead." And with that Kensi grabbed the keys out of Callen's pocket and set out for the car.

"Fine you can drive this time, but I'm choosing dinner!" He said as he walked out after her.

Kensi and Callen were finishing up the paper work that they had left behind the previous day. Sam, Nell, Nate, Hetty and Eric had just left for whatever it was that Eric had picked out for team night, Deeks had just reported in, after dropping off the prisoner and was now headed out.

"There I'm done!" Kensi said as she closed the last file, beating Callen by seconds.

"Me too."

"Not quite yet" she says as she drops a stack of paper on Deeks's desk, she walks over and puts another file down on Callen's desk.

"As my team leader, I need you to sign off on any leave I take."

"Why are you taking leave?"

"Read the file."

He does, then smiles.

"You knew that this would happen." Callen says as he walks into the giant tent, stopping to turn around when he realises that Kensi isn't with him.

"You know I've never seen an elephant before, I wonder if I could get him to spray water on Deeks." Callen smiles and looks around trying to spot the team in the audience of the travailing Circus.

"Oh, look Deeks saved us seats, too bad you already sweet talked that elephant."

"Oh, shut up." Callen laughed.

They made their way up the stairs to their seats, stopping only to buy some popcorn from a passing vendor.

"Finally your here, they are about to start." Eric was bouncing up and down in his seat, only to stop suddenly when Hetty, who was sitting next to him, was knocked, nearly losing her glasses in the large tub of popcorn sitting on her lap.

Just as Kensi sat down the lights dimmed and the announcement started "Ladies and Gentlemen, can you please take your seats, the Mystic Circus is about to start."

It wasn't until the team were sitting in a bar down the road from the Circus, did she final notice. She was shocked she hadn't noticed it before, angry at herself for missing the obvious signs. Not eating her favourite food, donuts, refusing to drink anything alcoholic, the crying and mood swings and even the light glow that surrounded her.

She did the only thing she could, under the circumstances.

"Ms. Blye, you are officially on desk duty until your maternity leave kicks in." With that Hetty left to go home, leaving her shocked team behind her.

Author's Note: I want to thank you all for your lovely reviews and alerts, it's always nice to know that people like what i write. Also thank you for all ideas.


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